Lionel Barber on the Story of SoftBank and the World's Wildest Investor

Japan’s Masayoshi Son is a gambler – of epic proportions. He has made and lost several fortunes, investing or controlling assets worth $1trn in the past two decades through his media-tech giant, SoftBank. He bankrolled Alibaba, China’s internet colossus, before the world had heard about it. He plotted with Steve Jobs to turn the iPhone into a miracle product. And he invested in hundreds of tech start-ups, helping to fuel the biggest boom Silicon Valley has ever seen.

Son’s appetite for risk is like no other. He has spent billions supporting the visions of founders like WeWork’s Adam Neumann only to lose billions. Yet despite the reverses, Son has never abandoned his belief that technology, particularly artificial intelligence, will change our lives for the better.

On October 3, former FT Editor Lionel Barber and ~Editor-in-Chief of The Economist Zanny Minton-Beddoes come to Intelligence Squared to discuss what we can learn from Son’s remarkable story. Drawing on Barber's new book Gambling Man they will tell of Son’s birth in a Korean slum in post-war Japan through to doing deals at Donald Trump’s skyscraper in Manhattan, at the royal palaces of Riyadh and in the throne rooms of China’s Marxist rulers; all places where Son has deployed his unique blend of techno-optimism, financial engineering and radical risk-taking.

They will also talk about what Son’s story tells us about the tech industry and the unprecedented risks and opportunities in today’s global economy.

Join us live at the Tabernacle, ask your questions and hear how a man shaped the global tech industry by constantly chasing the next big thing.

Host or Publisher Intelligence Squared